English▸ verb [with object]
1 notice or perceive (something) and register it as being significant:
[with clause] she observed that all the chairs were already occupied.
▪ watch (someone or something) carefully and attentively:
Rob stood in the hallway, from where he could observe the happenings on the street.
▪ take note of or detect (something) in the course of a scientific study:
the behaviour observed in groups of chimpanzees.
2 [reporting verb] make a remark:
[with direct speech] ‘It's chilly,’ she observed
[with clause] a stockbroker once observed that dealers live and work in hell.
3 fulfil or comply with (a social, legal, ethical, or religious obligation):
a tribunal must observe the principles of natural justice.
▪ maintain (silence) in compliance with a rule or custom, or temporarily as a mark of respect:
a minute's silence will be observed.
▪ perform or take part in (a rite or ceremony):
relations gather to observe the funeral rites.
▪ celebrate or acknowledge (an anniversary):
they observed the one-year anniversary of the flood.
– ORIGIN late Middle English (in observe (sense 3 of the verb)): from Old French observer, from Latin observare ‘to watch’, from ob- ‘towards’ + servare ‘attend to, look at’.